Chapter 28
In fact, Xu Qingzhou did go to the school to attend a lecture that afternoon.
Because the lecture was given by a senior teacher who had graded exams for many years and was invited by the school to teach students how to answer questions in the college entrance examination, Xu Qingzhou had to attend, whether it was due to the school's objective requirement or her own desire to listen.
The lecture ended at 4:30 p.m., which was still early before Xu Qingzhou's part-time job started.
However, considering his unexcused absence yesterday, Xu Qingzhou went to the supermarket early today, hoping to explain to the supervisor and gain forgiveness.
Unexpectedly, when she found the supervisor, he was on the phone and in a very bad mood. After hanging up, he saw her, glared at her, and naturally opened his mouth in a rage, saying nothing nice.
In fact, Xu Qingzhou didn't expect any kind words at first.
However, her worst fears came true—she was fired for absenteeism without cause.
Fifteen minutes later, Xu Qingzhou stood at the door, holding the six hundred yuan he had earned from his previous part-time job. He stared blankly at the sky, unsure whether to quickly find a new job to supplement his family's income or go back to his studies.
It was at this moment that she met Chi Jun.
To be honest, Xu Qingzhou felt quite flustered the moment their eyes met.
She was afraid that Chi Jun would ask her:
"Shouldn't you be at school right now? What are you doing here?"
Even if she could come up with a clever excuse to avoid the "part-time job" part and find another reason to deceive him, the fact that she was "deceiving" him would still be undeniable.
However, after waiting a while, Chi Jun only glanced at her up and down without saying a word. Instead, a boy in a black jacket next to him spoke first:
"Um... Jun-ge, won't you introduce him to us?"
Chi Jun blinked, then lazily glanced at his group of friends beside him and said:
"Ah, let me introduce you."
“This is my sister, Xu Qingzhou.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Qingzhou clearly saw the boys exchange glances and mutter to each other.
The boy in the black jacket instantly broke into a smile, put down the case of beer he was holding, vigorously wiped his hands on his clothes, and quickly walked over.
"Hello, little sister, my name is Li Rui."
Xu Qingzhou was not used to this sudden enthusiasm.
She looked at Li Rui, her hands hanging at her sides without moving, and gave him a restrained smile.
Seeing this, Li Rui wasn't embarrassed at all. He calmly skipped the part, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at Xu Qingzhou with a smile, saying, "Since you're already here, little sister, why don't you do me a favor and come along?"
*
Ten minutes later, Xu Qingzhou followed the group of boys to the entrance of a restaurant called "Fu Le Xuan" on the top floor of the mall.
She didn't actually want to come, because the only person she knew here was Chi Jun; everyone else was a complete stranger.
However, Li Rui was too enthusiastic, and his words were so sweet and charming that he kept praising and flattering her. In the end, he even said that if Xu Qingzhou didn't come, his birthday would be a waste.
Xu Qingzhou was not worthy of such a serious charge, and since she was not good at refusing others, she was coaxed and dragged to the restaurant by Li Rui.
Upon entering the private room, Xu Qingzhou felt a sudden darkness engulf his vision.
Downstairs, the sight of seven or eight unfamiliar faces had already made her somewhat anxious.
Unexpectedly, the private room was crammed with a dozen or twenty men and women, who were watching TV, playing games, or even playing cards together in the brightly decorated room with ribbons and balloons.
Hearing the elevator ding, someone looked up and swore, "Damn, you only have a little bit of alcohol and you've moved all this way? People who don't know better would think you fell into the toilet—" Before he could finish speaking, he caught sight of a blue and white school uniform following behind a group of men and immediately stopped in his tracks.
The others also noticed something was wrong and all looked toward the elevator entrance.
So, as soon as Xu Qingzhou reluctantly stepped out of the elevator, she stood awkwardly in place, staring at the unanimous gazes directed at her.
Li Rui, with her sharp eyes, noticed everyone staring at Xu Qingzhou and immediately jumped to her side, solemnly introducing her:
"Let me introduce you all, this is Xu Jun's sister, isn't she beautiful? Isn't she beautiful?"
Seeing everyone nod in agreement, Li Rui put his hands on his hips and grinned like a complete idiot.
Until a balloon suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit him on the head with a "bang": "Li Rui, what's it to you if that girl is pretty? Your teeth are as sharp as toenails."
"Tsk!"
Li Rui, dissatisfied, patted his chest and said with a righteous expression, "My brother Jun's sister is my sister. My sister is beautiful, so what's wrong with me, as her brother, being proud of her?"
"shameless……"
A group of people were laughing and joking.
Xu Qingzhou, the protagonist of the story, stood awkwardly at the elevator entrance due to nervousness, unconsciously fidgeting with the straps of her backpack.
Just as she thought that if Li Rui continued joking around with everyone, she would be tempted to find a cliché excuse to run away, a familiar voice came from the window.
"Xu Qingzhou".
Xu Qingzhou looked up and saw Chi Jun sitting casually in a chair, one hand resting on the edge of the table, watching her idly.
"Come and have some fruit."
Xu Qingzhou breathed a sigh of relief, nodded quickly, and walked over.
Five or six boys were sitting at the table chatting.
As Xu Qingzhou walked over, Chi Jun casually pulled out the chair next to him and brought a small plate of oranges to her.
Xu Qingzhou sat down and quietly peeled an orange.
Even though Xu Qingzhou reminded herself not to be presumptuous on the way here, she knew that Chi Jun had clearly come to her rescue in that situation.
So, after slowly peeling an orange, she handed it to Chi Jun as a token of her gratitude.
Chi Jun was chatting with a few boys about games when he saw this. He glanced at Xu Qingzhou and the orange in her hand, but before he could take it, the boys next to him let out a strange cry—
"Holy crap, this is the real little sister..."
"Xu Jun, you're so lucky! Your sister is so beautiful, so well-behaved and so considerate."
Some shameless girls immediately craned their necks and leaned in: "Little sister, I want to eat a tangerine too..."
The others immediately refused to be outdone.
"Little sister, can I peel one too?"
"Me too! Sis, your brother and I are best buddies, so I'm practically your half-brother!"
Xu Qingzhou couldn't stand the teasing, her eyes darting away, and she quickly blushed.
Until Chi Jun threw an orange at them, laughing and cursing, "Who do you think you are, daring to ask my sister to peel oranges for you?"
Amidst a chorus of strange laughter, such as "Oh my, oh my, you're such a protective brother!", Xu Qingzhou's face turned even redder.
It's hard to describe the feeling, but it's as if... a gentle, flowing stream is welling up from my heart, and my whole body feels as if it's wrapped in a soft, warm cotton ball.
She couldn't help but look at Chi Jun.
Chi Jun was eating the orange she had peeled, stuffing it into his mouth in a few bites. His gaze met hers, and he raised his chin slightly.
"Eat your food and ignore them."
As he spoke, he handed over a small plate of sliced honeydew melon.
Xu Qingzhou nodded obediently, picked up a small fork, pierced a small piece of cantaloupe, and slowly chewed it. His thoughts, however, drifted away amidst the playful banter, leaving only one sentence vaguely in his mind—
If only I really were his sister.
A little while later, two more boys came to the table.
The topic quickly shifted elsewhere.
They seemed to be talking about a game, which Xu Qingzhou didn't quite understand, so he focused on eating the melon and peeling the tangerines, eating slowly.
Suddenly, the table was slammed down, startling Xu Qingzhou so much that his hand trembled and a piece of orange peel fell to the ground.
She bent down to pick it up, and when she looked up, she saw the boy opposite her with his eyes shining, excitedly shouting:
"Damn, you guys didn't see that scene back then. At the critical moment, Dogzi unleashed several ultimate moves in a row, and the enemy's health bar dropped like blood gushing from his aorta."
"Seriously, Xu Jun, you really missed out by not participating in this competition! This competition was fucking exciting! It was fucking fun!"
Xu Qingzhou paused, the orange she was about to eat, and subconsciously glanced at Chi Jun.
Didn't participate in the competition?
Hasn't he been playing matches a lot lately?
Could it be... another competition?
Moreover, he originally said that the match would start early tonight, so he would go to a friend's house for dinner first, but he ended up attending Li Rui's birthday party instead.
Xu Qingzhou frowned, feeling that everything was confusing and he couldn't quite make sense of it.
However, before she could glean any information from the boys' casual conversation, Li Rui threw down his cards, turned around, and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Hey! Dinner's ready! Everyone, come sit down at the table!"
Upon hearing this, everyone put away their phones, abandoned their games, and headed towards the two large round tables.
Xu Qingzhou was already sitting next to Chi Jun, so he didn't move and remained seated next to him.
After everyone had settled down, Xu Qingzhou glanced up and looked around at the people at the table, but choked up the next moment.
"..."
Apart from a few boys who were already chatting at the table, almost all the other seats at the table were occupied by girls.
Moreover... the girls were all lined up next to Chi Jun, on both sides.
Xu Qingzhou witnessed firsthand just how popular Chi Jun was.
Chi Jun, the real person, seemed completely unaware of this.
Or perhaps he was already used to being surrounded by girls.
The other boys, of course, were also aware of the situation, and since they were somewhat familiar with these girls, the conversation inevitably turned to teasing and joking with them during the meal.
"Hey, Xu Yunyun, why aren't you eating the pig's trotters and just eating salad? Isn't pig's trotters your favorite food?"
"No, do you girls even eat braised pork? If not, give it to us! We finished the whole plate as soon as it came to our table."
"Oh my...you girls are so pretentious."
"Good heavens, Xu Jun, you're practically a human weight loss pill!"
Although the girls were shy, they were not willing to give up and be ridiculed. They blushed and fought back in high-pitched voices.
As the two tables of people were chatting and laughing, creating a lively atmosphere, a boy from the next table suddenly walked over, grinning, and picked up the braised pork and crayfish from the table, ready to run away.
A group of girls immediately began to complain.
Just then, a hand with distinct knuckles suddenly reached out and grabbed the hand that was trying to snatch the plate.
The boy was taken aback and looked up at Chi Jun:
"Damn it, Xu Jun, what are you doing? They...they're not eating."
Chi Jun leisurely intercepted the crayfish and braised pork, a roguish smile on his face:
"Who said the girls at this table aren't eating?"
After saying that, he turned around and asked a girl, "Did you say that?"
The girl, with a mouthful of food still in her mouth, immediately shook her head upon hearing this.
When asked, the other girl also shook her head vigorously.
Chi Jun chuckled: "You saw it?"
After saying that, he picked up the plate and handed it to Xu Qingzhou: "Give me some."
Xu Qingzhou paused for a moment, then obediently picked up a piece of braised pork and a crayfish from the two plates.
—So he was protecting his younger sister.
Everyone suddenly realized what was going on. Some thought it was normal, while others felt a pang of envy.
To everyone's surprise, after Xu Qingzhou finished taking the plates, Chi Jun didn't sit down. Instead, he turned around and handed two plates to the girl sitting to his left: "Here, take some."
The girl was stunned. When she came to her senses, she blushed and tried to remain calm as she picked up a piece of braised pork and a crayfish.
Chi Jun left his seat, picked up the plate, and walked to the next girl.
The boys were stunned by this move.
Chi Jun raised an eyebrow at the dumbfounded boy and smiled:
"Aren't you leaving yet? Waiting to lick the plate clean?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
